In the aftermath of a painful loss, it pays to be painfully honest – and Sydney FC defender Alex Wilkinson was bluntly to the point as to where the Sky Blues went wrong against Wellington on Saturday.

Pledging significant improvement in the derby this weekend, Wilkinson admitted that an utterly insipid display in the first half of the 3-0 defeat to the Phoenix was unacceptable from the Premiers.

It was the first time Sydney had lost consecutive home games since 2015-16, and left coach Steve Corica pledging changes in personnel to take on Western Sydney.

Wilkinson admitted his side had been second best for the whole of the first half, allowing the visitors to surge into a three-goal lead by the interval.

“I can't recall us conceding three goals, but it was just an extremely poor first half to be honest,” Wilkinson said. “Two long balls, we spoke about that in the week as one of their strengths because they have a lot of speed up front with Krishna and Burns. We just didn't deal with it.

“The third goal is just a cross and a decent header — they're poor, poor goals to concede and not good enough from us.

“That just compounded what was a poor first half all round. We were second to every ball, slow getting out of the blocks. If you don't turn up willing to put in 100 per cent and compete, you will get turned over.”

Sydney’s defensive unit can expect extra tuition in shape this week after being caught on the turn time and again by Wellington’s pace and movement up front.

“It was the manner in which we conceded that as a defender doesn't sit right with me,” Wilkinson said. “It's not like they scored any wonder goals, it was just one ball through the middle — twice.

“In the defensive line all together we have to be better, those goals are too simple. At Sydney FC in the past couple of years we've made it very hard for teams to score against us and very hard to break down. We have to get back.

“It's something we need to work on and improve on, and look forward to a big game next week to bounce back.

“The derby is a great occasion, a game we traditionally very well. So for us it's a perfect game to bounce back, with a big crowd out there supporting us.”

Both Siem de Jong and Danny da Silva made returns from injury in the second half, and are line to start against the Wanderers as Corica looks to rejig his side.

“We've got players back which is great, so there will be some changes next week," Corica said.

“We can't perform like that again. Our first half performances in the last two games were not good enough.

"The guys know that it's happened twice in a row, it needs to change a lot and it will next week.”